Swanky condo tower in Rainey District nears groundbreaking

Another major project in the Rainey Street District is preparing to break ground: 70 Rainey, an upscale residential condominium tower, which will include a street-level restaurant and parking structure that will accommodate some public parking.

"I assure you, it's very real," said Joshua Coleman, principal with Page, the architecture firm in charge of the design of the project. "We're right in the middle of a lot of processes."

His comments were made during a luncheon sponsored by Austin's chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women or CREW Austin.

Coleman said the exact timing of construction has not been determined but will take 24 to 26 months to complete.

The construction parcel is small — less than an acre. The building will include eight levels of parking, a ground floor restaurant and an outdoor amenity deck dubbed "the park in the sky." The base will be topped by 164 residential, for-sale condos — all with balconies.

No specifics were released about size or pricing.

The condos are rotated 14 degrees from the podium base and each unit's floor plan is a shaped like a parallelogram.

There's a reason for the unconventional silhouette. Coleman said it will allow every unit to have the same optimal view.

Ample greenery will be used. Trees will be planted along the restaurant's outdoor patio and trellises line the walls of the parking structure. The amenity park will include an expansive garden.

"This is a unique feature of the project. The planting gardens are meant to be a backyard that residents use," Coleman said. "It's a real landscape — not planter boxes on a concrete deck."

Coleman said the developer continues to negotiate with the city about how much parking will be available to the general public. The Rainey Street District has become a popular neighborhood with numerous bars and restaurants, along with high-rise residential developments, and parking is in short supply.

In addition to Page, engineering and design firm Bury is working on the project.